


Even in this hell, I found my own heaven

by DestielIsFuckinReal



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Sad Ending, i warned you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 13:27:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18032585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestielIsFuckinReal/pseuds/DestielIsFuckinReal





	Even in this hell, I found my own heaven

The Vietnam War isn't like Rambo showed it, with men in tank top fighting the bad guys with machine guns and daggers. It's hell, with heat and mosquitoes and the lot, it's filth and mud and most likely deadly plants. It's the sound of shells and guns so loud that they drown even the screams of the ghosts, and here is plenty of them, soldiers and civilians alike. With the night, though, it comes peace, or at least a resemblance of peace, when Klaus can try to shut down the spirits or ignore them for a moment or two. It's in these moments, in the dead of the night, when everyone is fast asleep, that Klaus feels alive. Here, in this secluded spot hidden among tall trees he found with Dave one day on patrol, Klaus is happy for the first time without the influence of some drug. Even Ben, who's always around saving him from stupid decisions, is not there, so maybe he's doing something right.

«When did you get these?» asks Dave in a whisper, trailing his finger along his _Good bye_ tattoo.

Klaus chuckles, eyes to the stars, «I was 16, very high» he shrugs, «I thought it was funny»

Klaus looks down at Dave and finds him staring back. It happens, more often than it should, them staring at each other for longer than acceptable in these times.

«Are you high often?» Dave whispers, as if to not disturb the moment.

Klaus grins, «Only when I need the things I see to go away»

Dave looks down, a small, shy smile on his face that Klaus always feels helpless to. He never asked for explanations of what he means when he says stuff like these, and Klaus is kinda grateful, because he doesn't know what to reply to not sound bat shit crazy. _Ah, you know, I see ghosts, I can talk to them, if I wasn't too coward to silence them with the drugs. I have a dead brother, by the way, with which I talk to almost every hour of every day._ He'd scare him off. 

Some fireflies decide to join the party, and when Dave looks up again, his eyes catch their light and it's without a doubt the most beautiful thing Klaus has ever seen.

Dave lets out a nervous chuckle, «I really hope you're sober right now because one, it would be against the protocol, and two, I need to tell you something important»

«Cross on my heart, I'm as sober as when I came out of my mother's womb»

Dave looks at him for a moment before taking a deep breath, «In my whole life, I've been so sure of only few things, like when I didn't want to follow in my father's footsteps and become a mechanic instead or when I decided to join the army» Klaus waits patiently, wondering where this is going, and then Dave speaks again, «and this thing is one of definitely one of them and I don't care if it's wrong or not normal, because when I am with you, it feels right» another deep breath, «I love you, Klaus. You don't have to say anything back, I just wanted to let you know»

Klaus can't help it, he laughs. He laughs because this beautiful man, this wonderful human, loves him despite him being a huge fuck up and a general disappointment, to dad, to his siblings, to himself, and it's the most beautiful feeling he's ever experienced in his life, even better than drugs and booze.

Dave is looking at him funny and Klaus should do something, _say_ something, so he just grabs his face and kisses him, just once, before whispering on Dave's lips, «I love you too, you idiot»

Dave smiles and kisses him again, and again, and again. They could get caught, they could be arrested, but Klaus doesn't care, because what's important now, are the lips of the man he loves on his, everything else doesn't really matter. Because Reginald might have broken him, but Dave put all his pieces back together.

\---

It all happens fast, in the middle of the inferno that is the Vietnam War. Klaus scream for a medic that never comes, bombs and weapons filling the air with their loud voices. He can feel Dave's life abandoning him, he feels an arm grabbing his and bringing him back behind the trenches, the owner of it screaming at him to be more careful or he'd get wounded or, worse, killed. Klaus does his best to follow orders until they're back in the tent, Dave's lifeless eyes staring back at him every time he closes his eyes. He throws a distracted look under his bed, at the suitcase that brought him here. That night, when everyone is sleeping, he'll take that damn suitcase, go to the clearing, _their_ clearing, and open it. He doesn't care where he'll end up next, because everywhere and every _when_ is better than here, where everything reminds him of Dave and what they could have had. 


End file.
